Labour should commit to building at least 100,000 new council homes a year, repair of existing stock, takeover of housing facing repossession and the buyout of private builders' unsold homes – paid for by a substantial development grant, the transfer of funding from floundering housing associations and new powers for councils to borrow and keep sales and rent receipts.

No form of fiscal stimulus would have a more direct impact on people's lives and jobs than public housebuilding. The government says we need a quarter of a million new homes a year. But private construction has collapsed and five million people are now on the social housing waiting list. Only the public sector can fill the gap. But although ministers have begun to move, progress is painfully slow.

From a political point of view, an ambitious social housing programme is one of the clearest ways of meeting the needs of Labour's alienated core supporters, who have to be at the heart of any new electoral coalition. But, given the lead-time involved, action will have to start now if it's to make sense as part of a manifesto in a year's time.